They Say the Fortress Has it's Secrets
by TalonSharplyRising
Summary: After the Battle with makubex, the fortress was left in good hands. But when the Getbackers get a mysterious letter from an unknown client, they soon discover something went seriosuly wrong. Is makubex to blame? Or perhaps someone else... my first fic!


Chapter one, Introduction:

Fortified Fortress… Return?

The sweet, coffee scented atmosphere of the familiar HonkyTonk was never quite interrupted akin to the way it had been that day. Sudden footsteps chillingly pounded against the café's wooden floor as if the one who made them had their life depending on it.

Dropping his spoon back into his coffee, Midou Ban lifted his violent blue gaze off the counter and towards the source of the alarming sound. Both he and Amano Ginji were surprised to see Fuyuki Shido, of all people, nearly stumbling towards them. He was completely out of breath. Ginji, knowing when his good friend meant business, stood up quickly, brilliant brown eyes narrowed in concern.

"Shido! Shido what happened!" He moved over quickly as he could towards the tired man. Shido took a seat on one of the many bar stools, catching his breath. Paul raised an eyebrow at this as he continued to clean out a mug with a towel. "You look like you've been chased by a lion." Paul said, raising an eyebrow over his orange glasses.

"That's not funny, I was just talking to one…" he turned to Ginji, straitening up. "Ginji we need to talk… I just got a message from a few crows from within the fortress. You wouldn't believe how stressed they were. Something bad has happened."

Ginji's eyes widened at this simple statement and he took a step backwards. He knew Shido was directing towards the fact that he may have to go back and set order again. This would again put him in danger of becoming his old self again— The lighting emperor—and face his past again. He stared at Shido's tired face. It almost looked as if Shido had had enough with all that's been happening lately. Maybe it all was true. Maybe you can't escape your past.

Ginji then directed his gaze at Ban, a look of confusion and stress. Ban noted the expression on Ginji's face, practically reading him like a book. "Hey…you gotta do what you gotta do… although I wish there was some kind of money involved in—"

Shido cut him off, a small smirk on his face. "I received this here message from the crows. Someone obviously gave it to them knowing my ability…yet… I have a feeling it's more complicated than it sounds." He held a white paper up. Ban's eyebrow rose slightly as he reached out and took it, holding it up to his face. His eyes scrolled the loopy fancy handwriting. "…Jeeze.. Someone likes to write."

"Could you read it out loud ban? Ginji asked, and Paul seemed to lean forward as if curious about what it said. Even Natsumi has turned around from her place of stacking plates up to listen in. Ban noted the attention and then adjusted his glasses looking back at the paper and began to recite in a clear and deciphering tone; the kind he used when trying to piece together a very tricky puzzle.

_Dear Getbackers- _

_Time is brief and must not lack_

_so fire up with major attack_

_Missing in suspicion_

_No word or decision—_

_In the fortress it needs to get back._

Ban blinked at this. "A riddle? What in the name of—"

"Perhaps they couldn't send a message directly?" Ginji asked, scratching his head a bit. "Things tend to get figured out pretty quickly in there." Ban sighed and whacked him up side the head. "Perhaps… but this could just be a trick. It's unsigned so how can we trust something like this?"

"It's just like the Il, snake for brains…" Shido pointed out. "When we were told of the Il, we didn't even know what it was or where to find it… this time, we need to do the same thing. Find out what it is that's the issue, what the thing itself is, who sent the letter, and where it's to be found." He shrugged. "its quite easy really. We did it before..besides...this person knows you"

Ban grit his teeth. "Well monkey boy, may I remind you when we finally did get the Il back to who ever sent us on that crazed mission, they tried to kill us." He grumbled.

"Then again we… well… did save the entire city from mass destruction. Besides Ban, we get back any—"

"Anything no matter the cost, with a 99.9 retrieval rate!" Ban grinned and pushed his glasses up. "Eh, checking it out won't hurt will it?" He folded up the paper, tucking it into his pocket of his jeans hidden under the sides of his white shirt. "Just after I finish my coffee!" he grinned in a chibi-ish way as he sat back down and stirred his coffee quickly before slurping it. Shido sighed. All that running just to watch that serpent finish his coffee?

Ginji pouted at this. This was going to take a while.

It was half an hour later when miss Hevn walked in. Ginji and Ban didn't even have a chance to utter a single sound before she started off with her plan. "It's perfectly fine boys, I heard all about it. Look, I think we should really consider sending in a person to check things out to see what's really happening. If its really bad we should accept the note like professionals—"Bans eyes narrowed a bit. And pay her 30 of their hard earned cash? Who the hell called her in on this! He turned to look at Shido who looked away instantly. Ah. That explained it. Monkey boy wanted to get more professional. It was settled then. He'd have to kick shido's ass right after they figured this all out.

"Thanks but no thanks." Ban cut her off. "We can handle this by _ourselves_." He snorted. Miss Hevn glared at him for a moment. "I'm sorry but that can't be helped." She smirked, pointing her finger up towards the ceiling she smirked, that little smirk that usually meant she had some trick up that non-existent sleeve of hers.

"Why not, lady!" Ban stood up again, his fist ramming the counter of the bar hard enough to make his empty mug rattle. Ginji and Shido jumped slightly at this. Bans' temper was starting to get out of control.

"Because, I already sent Kazuki, our wonderful navigator, to go and see what the issue is. That's why!" Ban grit his sharpened teeth and waved a fist at her before they started to argue. Shido looked up from his tea and over at Ginji, who just stared back. "Shock…. Them… now." His lips read. "just…end it…"

"And how LONG ago did you SEND him!"

"About 2 HOURS ago, Midou!"

"Did you even consider TELLING us or even ASKING US? NO! You always stick that—"

"Stick that _what_ ban?"

"That….big…." ban motioned his hands in a circular motion for a moment"………NOSE OF YOURS in other people's business! Then you just expect me to PAY you for it!"

The Honkytonk still may have smelt like coffee, but now it was polluted with yelling. Outside a gentle rain came down, dusting the ground with its dampening presence. Grey clouds passed lazily overhead, the soft hissing of the water mingling with distant light thunder. Ginji could feel the static change in the atmosphere within his very body. It relaxed him. The rain always did help to sooth him. He stopped focusing on Ban and Hevn fighting and instead concentrated on the gentle drizzle past the arguing pair. He slowly slipped into a soothed trance, when a figure came into view out of the foggy rain like a ghost from the past. Ginji's eyes widened. "You guys!" he stood up suddenly, the quick and sudden movement causing the two to stop fighting and for Shido to lift his head from the table. "Kazuki is back!"

"What!" they turned around just in time to hear the bell ringing as the long haired man walked in, shoulders drenched from the rain. He looked tired, and didn't bother to say anything before he sat down at one of the tables and stared down at its blank pattern.

"Kazu?" Shido looked up at him from across the table and reached forward and took his friends hand. He gently shook it as if trying to pull him out a trance similar to the one Ginji had been in. Kazuki looked up at him with his chocolate colored eyes and closed them half way. "…This is bad."

In a second everyone else had moved over to him, eyes concentrating on the thread master. Their stares bore into him and he started to flinch very subtly as if feeling like guns were aimed at him. "We need to get as many as we can. This problem is out of our hands, even if we made up the Volts in the past." He looked up direct at Ginji. "It's only been a few months since Makubex had regained control properly of the fortress. However," he looked back at the others "somewhere along the lines, something went very, very wrong."

Shido narrowed his eyes. "We left Makubex a changed boy. Why would he ever—"

"Its not his fault. The Fortress… is at war."

"Impossible! A war?"

"You mean like a civil war?

"Precisely" Kazuki explained to the group, reunited like last time. Himiko, Emishi, Juubei, and Akabane were now seated, all listening to Kazuki's story.

"I sneaked into the fortress, sneaking in. Everything looked normal, but many things were different. The people were highly aware of those around them. They looked uneasy as if they thought another bomb would go off any minute, and anyone could be carrying the detonation device." Kazuki stirred a cup of coffee to try and relax himself. He was scratched and burnt in a few places, but nothing serious. "I watched this. It was as if no one could relax. I turn around and notice that many new passages ways were set up. The fortress itself has changed. Where they lead exactly I'm not sure, but all I did know was that this must have happened very quickly; all in a few months. I stopped and looked at one of the new doors when a fight broke out."

"Would this be the fight that made you believe there's a war going on?" Ginji asked, leaning in a little on the table. The further he was away from Akabane the better. He swore he could feel the man's purples gaze on his back, and it was making him extremely uncomfortable. There was no way he'd be able to last another mission along side that sketch-ball.

"Yes. The next thing I knew they were fighting, shouting things about rebels and calling them wire dolls.. The thing was, that no side had wire dolls. I believe after Makubex's little schemes of control underwent construction; he lost half of his supporters. That's my guess. Of course, I found myself caught between it. The violence is horrible. The entire fortress is in a state of chaos. I have a feeling someone's behind the opposing side, and I'm positive its not Makubex."

Hearing this, Emishi raised an eyebrow. "So, we go back in there, and then we ask Makubex what's going on. How does that sound?"

"I believe this will be more of a challenge than just that. But the idea of the level of entertainment in a civil war sounds absolutely thrilling." Akabane smirked a bit, holding his hat in his gloved hands. "I'm in for such a challenge, don't you agree?"

"I don't know. Doesn't something sound, well, fishy about this whole situation?" Juubei inquired.

"Yes…it reeks of fish." Himiko looked out the glass window towards the fortress. "But with enough work we could air it out a bit."

"Besides." Ginji added in. "We promised we'd help Makubex when he was in need. I think this counts as one of those times." He watched more crows fly around outside, most likely waiting for Shido to give them a response. "Odd the crows wouldn't tell you what happened…"

"Actually, the bird that handed the letter to me personally was a raven, the rest were crows following it." Shido said. "Damn bird didn't even respond to me, or say anything other than "From the fortress," he sighed.

"Be a little more thorough with your information bird brain, or this will just take longer to solve." Ban hissed.

Shido looked up at him wearily almost. "…Yea yea… what ever. I doubt that has much to do with it if that's what you're getting at." He looked back at the counter. "You better not come close to dieing in the fortress this time, Midou. I'm not going to be joining you until I've paid Modoka a visit." He got up placing his change on the counter for Paul before turning to leave, nodding to the others as he pushed the door open.

"Bye Shido! Say hi to Modoka for us!" Ginji called after, Kazuki waving gently after the beast master.

"Come again!" Natsumi called out after him, smiling cutely.

"Will do." Shido called after them before heading off down the street.

"Hey Shido! Wait! We should plan together on thiisss!" Emishi burst towards the door from the booth to run after him, skidding to a stop just before running off the sidewalk and into oncoming traffic before jerking off to the right and down the street after the Beast Master.

"I'll give it five seconds before we all hear Shido yelling," Himiko blinked, watching the comical scene endure. If it weren't for the fact that they all knew Himiko played with poisons, she could have gotten away with enlightment, no problem.

Paul chuckled as the distant bickering from the two slowly crept back into the café. He then scooped the change into his hand and opened the cash register, soft clicking and chinking emitting from the machine as it opened. The others were sweat-dropping as he poured the change in with a gentle rustle of metal, a sound the Get Backers always hated to hear.

Ban rolled his eyes and then looked back down at his empty mug, reading "The Invincible man, for the exclusive use of Ban the Great." He grumbled before pushing it slightly away. "That stupid chimp. Like I'd need his help."

Akabane chuckled softly, staring down at his hat. "Well then. It's settled; A mystery on our hands, a civil war, and a questionable outcome. I do believe this will pay off in an entertaining way. I shall meet you at the Fortress's entrance at the appropriate time. Good day Midou-san, Ginji-Kun, and good luck on your preparation." Ginji shuddered a little, feeling slightly squeamish as he heard his name and forced himself to raise a hand back at him. Ban just grunted as the thin black figure moved from the door and off into the city.

As for Akabane, Ban knew this mission would pay off for him no matter if it was their blood was spilt or his own— In entertainment. However, Ban knew otherwise. Something told him somehow this whole thing would really pay off in the end. Somehow

Please review good things


End file.
